Raisa Gorbachev Applauds Yule Carol at British School

CARTERTON, England — Raisa Gorbachev visited a typical English village school today, enthusiastically kissing flag-waving children and applauding the children's singing of "Away in a Manger" as she watched a Nativity play.

But the 55-year-old wife of Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev said no thanks when the headmaster invited her to taste a mince pie baked by one of the youngsters.

Rose Pepler, 8, who had just completed a batch of the pies in cookery class, told her: "I'm not sure they're very good. I haven't tried one yet."

While her husband discussed arms control with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at nearby Brize Norton air base, Mrs. Gorbachev spent more than half an hour absorbing Christmas at an excited Edith Moorhouse Primary School.

Raisa Gorbachev, herself a former teacher, watched the 5- to 7-year-olds sing Christmas carols during a staging of the birth of Jesus.